Rappelling in Kawasan a ‘safe’ alternative

Extreme sports enthusiasts can enjoy rappelling at the Kawasan Falls in Badian town in southern Cebu. (CDN PHOTO/JOSE SANTINO BUNACHITA)

Imagine scaling down a 40-foot waterfall.

While a lot of people would immediately back out from the challenge, the dauntless would easily take to the task.

Maureen Aranas, 24, and her boyfriend Almyr Caminade, 30, were in the mood for some extreme sports action and decided to try out rappelling, a relatively new activity in the widely famous Kawasan Falls in the town of Badian, three hours south of Cebu City.

“It was really a breathtaking experience. I enjoyed the activity with just a little bit of anxiety because you’re just depending on the durability of the rope as you hop down the waterfall,” Maureen told Cebu Daily News.

The adventurous Maureen immediately overcame her anxiety and even posed for pictures halfway through. It was a bit different for her boyfriend.

“I’m a huge fan of extreme adventures, and I’m always game. But when I stepped on the cliff, while looking down to where the water falls and how high it was, that’s when I felt my spine tingle. I thought, ‘This is scary,’ but at the same time, I was very excited to try it,” Almyr said.

As he began to scale down the waterfalls, Amyr said the experience became more pleasant because he felt like a pro.

The two had gone canyoneering in Badian before; but a Facebook post from their tour guide, Raymund Gaudiano Sande, on rappelling got both of them excited to try Badian’s newly offered adventure that replaced canyoneering.

Last June, Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III suspended the canyoneering activity in Kanlaob River in the towns of Badian and Alegria based on recommendations from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) following the deaths of two people due to accidents.

The suspension was supposed to be lifted last August 1, but Davide issued another order extending the suspension until August 31 pending the full results of a provincial Capitol review on security guidelines for canyoneering.

In Badian, Sande, a licensed canyoneering operator in the area, shifted to offering waterfall rappelling to guests of the famous Kawasan Falls after the Cebu Provincial Government temporarily suspended canyoneering in Kanlaob River.

Sande told CDN that he thought of a different kind of activity so that people would continue to visit the town and provide livelihood to at least 16 of his tour guides and assistants.

“I looked for other activities that we can do here in Badian. I researched in the internet and found waterfall rappelling, which is popular in Costa Rica, as a good alternative. So I thought we could try it here,” he told CDN during a guided tour.

Rappelling in Badian

At the second level of Kawasan Falls, groups composed of five to ten people gather at the top for a short briefing on how to safely scale down the waterfalls.

Tourists are taught to control and regulate their descent through rocks alongside the cascading water while a helmet and life vest are also provided.

Before going down, guests slip on a harness buckled to a rope.

Sande’s group has one main rappelling guide, Levi, who scales down the waterfalls with the guests to ensure their safety.

While rappelling, Levi can be asked to take top view photos or videos of the tourists while at the pool below, aboard a bamboo raft, Sande takes wide angle shots of the tour group using a different camera.

The daring could choose to go down ahead of Levi or request the guide to bring the rope closer to the falls so that the cascading water can drench them.

Guests are told to wear shoes or a sturdy pair of sandals so that their feet could safely cling to crevices during the slow descent.

While scaling down the cliff, the legs must be kept perpendicular to the rock wall as climbers freely control the rope going down.

Those needing to take a rest in between let go of the controller to be suspended in air for a bit.

Rappelling can be a little straining on the abdomen at first, but it gets easier once the climber gets the hang of it.

Some guests actually wish that the whole breathtaking experience would take even longer to complete.

In the last remaining four meters, where it starts to cave in at the bottom and the climber’s feet could no longer reach the rock wall, guests do a “monkey drop” by gripping the controller for a free fall all the way down into the water.

Safe activity

According to Sande, rappelling in Badian is safe as it comes with a complete set of safety equipment which include a harness, descender, vests and helmets.

Guides, he said, also undergo professional training.

“These equipment are branded quality and in every rappelling, there will be a technical guide that will go parallel with the guests for technical and safety purposes,” Sande explained.

An ocular inspection in the area was also conducted to determine where to anchor the ropes, he said, adding that they also cleared the path to make sure that there were no soft rock formations.

For Sande to open the business, he had to invest at least P60,000 for equipment purchase alone.

While he tried to encourage other canyoneering operators in the area to shift to waterfall rappelling, the investment costs, he said, were prohibitive for some.

Before the provincial Capitol suspended canyoneering in Badian and Alegria, operators used to earn as much as P5,000 a day from tourists. The amount doubled or tripled during weekends, Sande said.

Canyoneering became a popular tourism activity in southern Cebu, drawing visitors from all over the country and abroad for years.

But rappelling, it seems, has proven to be a good alternative for Badian’s tourism industry which suffered a blow with the suspension of canyoneering there.

Sande said that of late, they’ve had more than 200 guests already.

Rappelling in Kawasan Falls costs P1,200 per person, which includes other activities in the three-level waterfall.

Other activities include waterfalls and cliff jumping, sliding and swinging in ropes into the water and bamboo rafting where guests are taken under the outfall for a massage or a beating by the flowing waters.

The rate also includes a lunch meal of Sinigang na Baboy, Pancit, Chicken Adobo, Chopsuey, rice and softdrinks in one of the cottages just beside the falls.